Former subpostmaster caught in Horizon scandal has wrongful conviction quashed

Robert Thomson was wrongly convicted in 2006 of embezzling money
Robert Thomson
PA
Lucinda Cameron24 January 2024

A former Post Office subpostmaster caught up in the Horizon scandal has had his wrongful conviction quashed.

Robert Thomson was convicted of one charge of embezzlement in 2006 and sentenced to 180 hours of community service.

His case was one of six referred to the High Court by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) in November 2022 over potential miscarriages of justice.

Mr Thomson’s appeal was due to be heard on February 1, however court officials confirmed the case was dealt with administratively on Wednesday and the conviction quashed.

Around 100 subpostmasters in Scotland were convicted after they were wrongly accused of embezzling money in the Horizon scandal, and First Minister Humza Yousaf has pledged to get “justice” for those involved.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said legislation will be introduced to exonerate subpostmasters convicted in England and Wales and vowed to get “justice and compensation” for victims.

More than 700 Post Office managers across the UK were convicted after the faulty Horizon accounting software, made by Fujitsu, made it look like money was missing from branches.

The Scottish Government is working on its own legislation to exonerate those wrongly convicted in the Post Office Horizon scandal

In 2006, Mr Thomson pleaded guilty at Alloa Sheriff Court to one charge of embezzlement.

The court imposed community service and a compensation order of £5,000.

When referring the cases to the High Court in 2022, the SCCRC concluded those who had pleaded guilty did so in circumstances that were, or could be said to be, clearly prejudicial to them.

At an Appeal Court hearing in Edinburgh on January 12 ahead of the expected full appeal hearing, Mr Thomson’s lawyer Wendy Culross told the court the ordeal has been a “nightmare” for him.

She said he was “not interested in compensation” and just wanted to clear his name.

A Post Office spokeswoman said it does not comment on individual cases, but added: “We are deeply sorry for past wrongs and are doing all we can to put these right, including extensive work to support overturning wrongful convictions.

“This work includes assisting the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service as we continue to work with the Government to support its efforts to speed up the exoneration of people with wrongful convictions.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in